DCL-06-15, National Child Support Interstate & Systems Symposium: June 6-9, 2006

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-06-15

DATE: March 31, 2006

TO: ALL STATE AND TRIBAL IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: National Child Support Interstate & Systems Symposium: June 6-9, 2006

Dear Colleague:

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is hosting a National Child Support Interstate & Systems Symposium to be held at the Hilton Washington DC/Silver Spring in Silver Spring, MD from June 6 through 9, 2006. The symposium is 3½ days and will cover two distinct subjects. The first subject, Interstate Communications, will be discussed on Tuesday, June 6 and Wednesday, June 7. The primary objective is for program/policy and systems staff to talk about the future for state and Federal systems in interstate communications and data exchange. The second subject, Automated Systems, will be discussed on Thursday, June 8 and Friday, June 9 (½ day). The objective is to discuss necessary and desired enhancements to state systems.

Specific topics to be addressed include:

Interstate Communications

Designing a vision for interstate communication exchange for the next five to ten years. How can we improve interstate communication exchange to increase collections and reduce costs?
Is there a role for limited services in interstate communication exchange? What are its benefits?
Using data standardization to simplify interstate communications.

Automated Systems

Impact of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 on state systems.

Updating the “Automated Systems for Child Support Enforcement: A Guide for States” to add optional functionality and best practices in automation.

Updates on systems policy.

The symposium will provide an excellent opportunity for your staff to participate in developing the future of interstate communication exchange, both from a systems and programmatic perspective. The participation of attendees is crucial to the success of this interactive symposium. An agenda is attached.

OCSE will pay the travel costs for two participants from each state or territory, as designated by a IV-D Director. The first participant should have general expertise in interstate communications using both systems (i.e., CSENet) and manual (i.e., Interstate/UIFSA forms) methods. OCSE will pay for up to three nights lodging (e.g., June 5, 6, and 7) for this participant. The second participant should have general expertise in your automated system and interstate communications. OCSE will pay for up to four nights lodging for this participant. OCSE will pay the travel costs and up to four nights lodging for one participant from each of the nine comprehensive IV-D Tribal grantees. Travel costs include coach round-trip airfare and ground transportation costs incurred in association with this event. The M&IE per diem is not included.

The State Information Technology Consortium (SITC) is assisting OCSE in the development and management of the conference. We anticipate a very productive meeting and look forward to seeing you in June!

Sincerely,

Margot Bean
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Enclosures

cc: Regional Program Managers
ACF Regional Administrators